Take Two on the Food Blog thing

Okay so I suck at this blog thing.  I have the best intentions but not a lot of follow through.  So I am going to attempt to try again to blog about the recipes I have tried.  I do not have any followers so it really does not matter whether I post things or not.  Anyway I will soon be employed full time (thank you Potterybarn!) so I figured I would try to post all of the recipes I have tried between now and then.

Here is the recipe for the lemon cookies I made last night:


Glazed Lemon Cookies

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Kosher salt (don't try to substitute with iodized it never works out right)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tble fresh lemon juice (1 large lemon), plus more if necessary
1 tsp grated lemon zest (from above one lemon)

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy (basically this means if you stick your finger in it should feel light and like whip creme).  Add the egg yolks, vanilla and salt and beat to combine.  Gradually add the flour, mixing just until incorporated (remember add the flour gradually the more that ends up in the air the less that ends up in the bowl). 

Divide the dough in half and shape into 1 1/4 inch diameter logs.  (Two things to interject:  first you may have to hand mix in some of the bits of mix in the bottom of the bowl into the dough ball, second and this is where I screwed up it needs to be rounded logs and really use a ruler.  My logs were more square which resulted in me having to make the cut dough round, see below).  Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes (I used plastic wrap and let them go 45 min).

Heat oven to 350.  Slice the logs into 3/8 inch thick pieces and space them 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets (Again make sure you get the right width, mine ended up being too thick after I baked them.  They really do not spread out much.  Also I forgot the parchment paper and just put them on my non-stick pans).  Bake until lightly golden, 16 to 20 min (if you are not sure how your oven works set timer for 16 min and then go from there).  Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 min, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely (about 20 min give or take).

In a small bowl, whisk togetherr the confectioners sugar, lemon juice and zest until it forms a thick but pourable glaze (add more lemon juice if necessary).  Dip the tops of each cookie into the glaze and let set about 15 min.


These are what I consider to be kind of fancy cookies and would be good to make if you were throwing or going to a tea party or bridal or baby shower. They are yummy and will be cakey if you cut your dough too thick.

RECIPE COURTESY OF REAL SIMPLE (I think).

Jobless

Day 1: Monday August 1st:  Spent a few hours looking online for a job.  Slept in.  Had free tickets to Steeley Dan.  Paid a few bills.  Went to grocery store, used cc of course. No jury duty.

Day 2: Tuesday August 2nd: Cleaned.  Did some laundry.  VSC job was a no.  Looked online for a job for a couple of hours.  Still waiting to hear from other job possibility.  Made a London Broil with a tried and true recipe and I overcooked it.  Made cookies and watched the last two episodes of True Blood. No jury duty

Day 3: Wednesday August 3rd:  Had to get up early becasue they were showing house.  Went to Charlie's and saw Shirley.  Had call from job possibility, need a 4th interview.  Next Thursday, sounds promising.  Have to do agenda for tomorrow's meeting. Have to go to yankee.  No jury duty. 

Cupcake Follow Up

Well I never really got back about the cupcakes.  They turned out okay, they were very moist and definitely on the lemony side. I think I thre the recipe away otherwise I would post it.  I alos made a pretty good Coconut Ice Cream.  It is a little sweet but not to bad.  I made some chocolate chip cookies from a Krusteaz mix.  That is a damn good mix!!  This Friday I am going to make these cholocate squares and I think I Nutter Butter Trifle.  I may report back or i may forget.  Stay tuned..

What to blog about?

What to blog about?  So I have spent some time figuring out what to blog about especially since I do not log on very often.  What would get me to blog every day.  I think I may have the solution.  I LOVE to cook and bake so what if I blogged about the recipes I have tried.  So I think that may be it.  We are going out of tpwn for the fourth to a big ol shindig.  I want to make cupcakes so since I have to work Saturday night, the night before we leave, and I really like to sleep in I will bake them Friday and frost them Saturday morning.  Stay tuned (oh yeah I do not have any one following me anyway)

Why am I still up at midnight?

Work
Brain will not cut off
Too much to think about
To tired to move from the couch to the bed.  I might as well be doing something while sitting on the couch so it might as well be work. Fun.

Oh yeah, Jay Leno is really stupid. 

Advice/Words of wisdom

So today at our monthly work meeting I heard the best quote of encouragement.  One of my co-workers was talking to another co-worker about how he felt like everyday it was like 1 step forward and 2 steps back (story of my life).  She told him to keep on stepping!  So everybody out there be thankful that you are stepping and keep on doing it! 

I HATE:

dishes
the cold
not being able to sleep in
the tension between my shoulders
money
Kyle Busch
negative people
people who pretend to like you
this pain in my side...Appendicitis?  What side IS your appendix on?
picking a dentist
food, cant we be like the Jetson's and just take a pill.  What ever happened to that cartoon

I should totally be in bed by now.  Another 9 to 8 day.